Charming Charly (English Edition) (Lords of Arr'Carthian 3) (7 page)

“Amano told me that you’re unhappy. He asked me to come and see you. Is that OK with you?” he heard her voice over the loudspeaker.

Charly nodded.

“He really is very worried about you. I’ve rarely seen him so upset,” said Moreena.

Charly looked at the queen, but remained silent. Only a quiet sobbing could be heard.
 

Moreena leant towards her a little and put her hand on her arm.

“Have you ever told anyone about what happened to you?”

“Only … only the police and Lory, but not all … not all the details …”

“Would you like to tell me about it?”

Charly wiped her wet eyes, then nodded.
 

“I don’t know … where I … where I should begin.”

“Take your time,” said the queen gently. “Take a deep breath and then begin with whatever comes into your mind.”

Charly seemed to be collecting her thoughts
before starting to speak.

“I had been to the graduation party –
 
the university graduation party. My friend, Hallie and I had drunk one too many. I … I got a little more intimate with one of the boys from my year group. It was loud and crowded at the party so … so Bob suggested that we …”. Charly sat up a little and wiped her eyes again before continuing to speak:”…He suggested that we went for a little drive in his car and I … I agreed.”

***

Amano was stared at the screen, mesmerized. His insides ached as he thought about what this Bob might have done to her. His hands were digging into the arms of the chair that he was sitting on.
 

***

Moreena was looking at Charly expectantly.
 

“We stopped at an isolated car park,” Charly continued. “He came straight to the point and wanted … wanted me to strip to my underwear, but that was all going … too fast for me. I was scared. I felt a little more sober after the drive, too, and I regretted agreeing to go on this drive. I resisted and Bob … He moved away from me and shouted at me. He was angry and insulted
me. He …”

“Did he ra…?”
 

“No!” Charly interrupted the queen’s supposition. “He threw me out of the car and drove off.”

“He left you there alone?” the queen asked in disbelief.

Charly nodded.

“So I ran home on my own,” Charly continued. “What else was I supposed to do? My phone and my money were in my handbag, and that was still in Bob’s car, so I couldn’t call a taxi. It was a long way, but at some point I got back to my part of town and I felt safe again, but then …” She broke off and sobbed again.
 

***

Amano put his hands in front of his face and groaned. He had hoped that Bob’s attempts at intimacy had been everything, but there was clearly more to come and it looked as if it was bad, because Charly was now sobbing so hard that he leapt up and was going to rush to her. But he stopped himself, remembering that she did not want to be touched by him, and his presence would probably make it all the worse for her.

“What happened next?” the queen asked gently.

Charly sniffed and took the hanky that Moreena was holding out to her. She wiped the tears from her eyes and blew her nose.
 

“It wasn’t very far from my house,” Charly continued. “I was attacked. A man grabbed me from behind. I lost consciousness.” She took a deep breath. “I woke up in a cold, dark cellar. I was chained to a pipe. I began to shout for help – but no one came – at least, not to rescue me. Only my abductor. He wore a mask. He …” She faltered, putting her hands in front of her face.

Amano had sat down again and was following what Charly said
with clenched fists and gritted teeth. His beast was running amok inside him – it wanted to go
and tear apart the man who had hurt Charly. But this bastard was light years away and Amano and his cheetah were condemned to inactivity.
He could not even take his mate in his arms – he could give her no consolation. He had never before felt so miserable.

***

“He ... raped me. Again and again,” Charly said quietly. “But that wasn’t enough for him. He tortured me. He … he burnt me with his cigars, cut me. He hit me, spat on me … uri… urinated on me. –
 
Again and again he threatened to … to kill me. –
 
And I ...” She was now sobbing helplessly and Moreena was sitting next to her on the arm of the armchair, holding Charly very tightly. “I … I wished that he would really do it. I hoped that he would … kill … me. It was all too much. I had no minute without pain any more, no second without fear. He had pulled out almost all of my hair, my eyes were so swollen at times that I couldn’t see anything. He hardly gave me anything to eat and I only got something to drink when I … when I …”

“It’s OK,” said Moreena soothingly. “You don’t need to tell me anything more. Only tell me – was the man punished for his crime? Is he dead?”

Charly shook her head.

“He was never caught. I couldn’t give them any description because he had always been masked. The cellar that I was imprisoned in was in an isolated house that had stood empty for years. He only went there when he … when he …”

“How did you manage to escape from him?”

“I had …” Charly began, sighing. “… for days I had been taking the mortar from around a brick, until it worked loose. I knocked the bastard out with the stone. I thought … I hoped he was dead. But when the police went into the cellar, after I led them there, he was gone. His DNA traces didn’t match those of any of the registered criminals, so they couldn’t find him.”

“Why didn’t you take the mask off to see who it was?” asked Moreena.
 

***

Amano could see Charly growing pale. She put her hands in front of her face and he could see that she was trembling. Why was she so upset by this one, perfectly reasonable, question? –
 
More so than when describing every form of torture? All of a sudden Charly pulled away from Moreena’s arms and leapt up from the armchair.

“I … I just … didn’t think of doing it,” she explained hastily.

Amano could tell that she was lying. She had thought of doing it, but something had stopped her. But what? It made no sense. Why had she not ascertained who her torturer was and whether he was really dead? Then the security forces of her planet could have punished the man.
 
Bewildered, he watched as Moreena got up and, after hugging Charly briefly, left her alone. When Charly was alone she collapsed onto the armchair, crying, and Amano leapt up. He had to go to her. He rushed out of the room and ran into his aunt in the corridor.
 

“Where are you going?” asked Moreena.

“I have to go to her,” replied Amano.

The queen shook her head.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she said. “Come with me. Let’s go to my quarters.”

“She was lying,” he said. “She didn’t just forget.”

“I know,” replied his aunt. “But she won’t tell you why she didn’t remove his mask. At least not right now. Let her calm down and you should sleep somewhere else today. She needs peace now. A little later I’ll send one of the servants to check on Lady Charly.”

Chapter 5

Y-Quadrant, Karrx7

Royal palace of the Arr’Carthian

7th Day of the Month of Manao in the year 7067

Federation Time

Since the queen’s visit Charly had hardly seen Amano. He had found himself other quarters again, as on the space ship. At first she had been really happy about this, but now she was beginning to miss him. To fill her lonely hours she had joined Keela and taken part in Solima’s language lessons. What harm could it do learn something about her hosts’ language? Despite the fact that she understood everything that was said, thanks to the translator in her ear, she was also interested in being able to speak with people with no translator in their ear. She also wanted to be able to read books, but she was still having a lot of difficulty with the unfamiliar letters.

The celebration in honor of her and Lory’s rescue was taking place today and Amano had accompanied her. He was attentive and charming, as ever, but he took great care not to touch her. She felt a little alienated from him again since she had poured out her heart to the queen. She ought to be glad that he was sensitive enough to give her space, but bizarrely she missed his company.
 

A few moments earlier he had disappeared to get them more drinks. Charly was standing near the dance floor, feeling a little forlorn. A sudden commotion drew her attention onto the dance floor. Keela was standing there with Luvoka, an officer from the
Cordelia
, and Marruk, the eldest of the two princes. Marruk seemed to be very angry, almost enraged. He thumped the officer and Charly heard Keela scream in horror. Luvoka just shook himself and grinned. Blood was running from his mouth. He wiped it away casually with the back of his hand and took a step closer to Marruk. Both men were acting as if they were at the start of a boxing match, where the two components first stare at one another, before throwing themselves at one another. Charly’s heart beat sped up.
 

“I thought you weren’t interested in the little one,” she heard Luvoka say. “As long you don’t claim her for yourself, she’s still available. So what are you angry about?”

Marruk snarled and sent him to the ground with a series of hard blows. Lying on his back, Luvoka was looking up at Marruk, grinning.

“I herewith claim Keela from planet earth as my mate,” declared Marruk for all to hear.

Charly clasped her hand to her mouth. The fact that a Carthian male could just claim his mate was one of the things that had made her feel uneasy since she started living amongst them, despite the fact that, otherwise, she felt as if she was living in a fairy tale here.
 

All of a sudden Marruk picked Keela up and threw her over his shoulder. Keela shouted out in protest and Charly, too, though quietly. This scene was too close to what she had experienced back then. She was just sensitive where this subject was concerned.
 

 
“Put me down!” Keela demanded loudly. “Damn well put me down! You … you Neanderthal!”

Marruk was not letting it bother him and he marched off the dance floor with his booty.

 
“Good work, brother!” Berka called to his brother.

Laughter and rude comments accompanied Marruk and Keela until they disappeared inside the palace. Charly had seen enough. She turned quickly and walked away.
 

***

Amano returned, with the drinks, to the spot where he had left Charly standing. She was no longer there. He looked around and could see her nowhere. Where could she be? Concerned, he put the glasses on the table and went inside. There he looked in his quarters, but she was nowhere to be found.
 

“Ceyla. Where is Lady Charly?” he asked.

“She’s in the garden,” replied the computer. “At the fountain.”

“Thanks, Ceyla,” replied Amano, relieved.
 

He hurried from the palace, shifting into his cheetah shape. He ran through the grass on quiet paws, but when he reached the large fountain she was no longer there. He sniffed the ground until he detected her scent. She could not be far away. Anxious, he set off.

***

Charly was looking up at the twinkling stars. The sky was so clear that she could clearly see countless numbers of them. They were twinkling as if the sky was strewn with diamond splinters.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she heard a voice behind her.

Shocked, she turned round. Amano was standing there, looking at her. Their eyes met and she felt her heart beat race. She realized that she had come a long way from the palace and it was unlikely that anyone would hear her from here.
 

“Why did you just walk away?” he asked, without coming closer. “I was worried.”

“I … It …,” she began, tentatively. “Because of … because of Keela.”

“Because of Keela?!” He asked blankly. “What does Keela have to do with it?”

“Well, the way Marruk … carried her off … First Kordan, then Marruk … Who knows whether … I mean … Next time it might be you and …”

“You’re still afraid of me,” he said. “I thought we’d grown closer during the last few days. I haven’t forced myself on you, I’ve slept elsewhere and …” He shook his head. “When will you stop running away from me?” he asked and she thought she could hear pain in his voice.
 

“I don’t know,” she said quietly.

“At least let me take you to your chambers. There aren’t any criminals wandering around here, but I’d still feel better if I knew you were safely in your bed. It’s late.”

She nodded and avoided his eyes as she walked towards him. Just in front of him she stood still. Her heart was beating wildly and part of her wanted to snuggle into his arms – wanted to find the security that he promised. But she could not do it. Her memories were stopping her. The safe stood wide open and all the dark demons of her past had come out to hunt her down.